23.2.24

Cuba's President Admits His People Are Hungry

 A Leader That Admits His People Are "Hungry"

    Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba's President, was born soon after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 but -- first as the island's Education Minister and now as President -- he is determined, against fierce odds, to maintain revolutionary rule in Cuba, which has somehow existed now into its 65th year!! In face of the fierce U. S. economic Embargo/Blockade, which has existed since 1962, President Diaz-Canel, has repeatedly said, "To continue to survive the blockade's purpose of starving Cuban familes, we must do a better job, despite the tightened 2024 blockade, of producing more of our own food, even if that means replacing over-worked oxen with new tractors." In that milieu, the photo above shows President Diaz-Canel this week hosting an important conference in Havana that includes major U. S. agriculture executives and companies that are anxious for the U. S. blockade to allow them to trade with Cuba regarding agriculture products such as tractors, fertilizer, eggs, apples, etc., etc.
     As you can see above, today -- on February 24th, 2024, the Top Cuban Headlines flashing around the U. S. and the world include the key report from the London-based Reuters News Agency: "US state agriculture officialss eye Cuba's private sector." For more than six decades, many critics of the USA's extremely punitive Cuban policies have pointed out that they are meant to please a few politically powerful anti-Cuba factions, mainly in Miami's Little Havana counter revolutioonary sector, while drastically harming innocent Cuban families in Cuba while also hurting U. S. citizens that might want to visit or trade freely with the nearby island-nation.
     For sure, as the worldwide reach of Reuters News explains in these final days of February in 2024, outside of Little Havana in Miami there are powerful agricultural enterprises in the U. S. hoping to trade with Cuba, including "Ted McKinney, CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture..." 
       And, in fact, as Reuters reports above, Ted McKinney -- an ultra-important agriculture expert in the United States -- believes that there is "a new Cuba that is emerging" and that he believes the U. S. should have a Cuban policy that helps desperate Cuban families and also help increasingly strained U. S. farmers who want to trade with Cuba, which is a hungry nation of 11 million people that, for example, has to buy milk products from faraway New Zealand, not from nearby U. S. farmers. Of course, in February of 2024 it is presumed that Americans like Ted McKinney will continue to be drowned out BY Little Havana USA.
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20.2.24

Cuba remains a little pawn in 2024's BIG wars!!

On Februrary 20 of 2024 Warring Powers Look to Cuba!

       Today  -- on February 20th, 2024 -- the image above was from a statewide televised Newscast in Cuba. It shows that a large delegation of Russian officials -- led by Russia's longtime Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov -- is in Havana today meeting with Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel. It is not coincidental that Russia is currently engaged in a long and bloody WAR with Ukraine while Cuba now admits in February of 2024 that the island is facing "the greatest economic crisis in this 62nd year of the Blockade." Of course, the United States is a key player in the Russia-Ukraine War, strongly opposing Russia, and also the key player in the economic Embargo/Blockade of Cuba that the U. S. began way back in February of 1962. Thus, for those reasons, the image of the Lavrov delegation in Havana today during a crucial point in the Russia-Ukraine War is an image that direly concerns the United States and will garner interest from the rest of the world too. It was in 1962, three years after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution shocked the U. S. and the world, that the Cuban Missile Crisis -- pitting the Soviet Union {Russia} against the United States remains to this day "the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear holocaust." Well...today --February 20th, 2024 -- the U. S. and Russia remain the world's two most powerful nuclear superpowers, although otherwise Russia does not compare to the economic or military might of the United States. And therefore the word "nuclear" is why the image above is huge.
    Above is the massive headline and photo today -- January 20th, 2024 -- in the Miami Herald as it explains the high-level meeting going on in Havana between Russia and Cuba. The Miami Herald's Nora Gamez Torres, a fierce anti-Cuba journalist, lumps Cuba's president as a supporter of Russia's raging war with Ukraine and this week's death in Russia of dissident leader Navalny -- two events that the U. S. and almost the entire world blame and damn Russia for. Today's Miami Herald headline comes at a time when Russia seeks help in its war and Cuba seeks help with its drastic economic problems, so there is sort of a nexus.
     As you can see as illustrated by the above map, Cuba is a only a tiny speck on the overall international spectrum but its geograpical location is extremely huge -- just a few miles south of the United States but thousands of miles from major challenges that the United States faces from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc. And so, as small as Cuba is, it is very important to both the United States and to international challenges that the United States faces.
     Meanwhile today -- on February 20th in 2024 -- CUBA remains the largest and arguably the most beautiful nation in the Caribbean Sea, which is comprised of the USA's southeastern neighbors that include U. S. Territories such as Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands. But since the 1950s, back when Batista was the island's dictator, Little Cuba and the Superpower United States have been in David & Goliath-like disagreements -- especially since Janaury of 1959 when the Cuban Revolution ousted Batista and since February of 1962 when the U. S. began its economic Embargo/Blockade of CUBA.
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16.2.24

Nora Jones Blocked by U. S. Blockade of Cuba

     Today is February 16th of 2024 and, as you can see above, last night popular American singer-songwriter, and pianist Norah Jones was supposed to begin the first of four nights of concerts in Havana. Of course, unfortunately, counter revolutionary Cubans in Miami's Little Havana quickly blocked the Norah Jones concerts in Havana, making sure Cuba didn't derive any money from the events. Of course, the music-loving Cubans on the blockaded island were deprived of a few hours of enjoyment, typical of the offshoots of Little Havana USA's economic blockade of Cuba that has existed since 1962.
      The two billboards above {1} showed Norah Jones and her promotion of the four nights of concerts, two per night, that she had scheduled in Havana; and [2} the notification that the Havana concerts had been "canceled".
     And note, of course, that the Miami Herald quickly headlined the gleeful news that the Norah Jones concerts in Havana had been "deleted" and that, of course, "Marco Rubio" -- one of Little Havana USA's army of counter revolutionary Miami Cuban-Americans who wield extreme Cuban power in the U. S. Congress.
Miami & Little Havana USA's Marco Rubio in the U. S. Congress.
     In a Superpower nation of 330+ million people, a handful of rich and powerful Little Havana USA Cuban-Americans in Miami can routinely dictate Cuban policies to the U. S. Congress and, of course, to Presidents.
      And, of course, Miami Herald journalists such as Nora Gamez Torres always seem eager to report negative news about Cuba, such as the blocking of the Norah Jones Concerts in Havana. And, as usual, the deprived everyday people in Cuba are the primary victims.
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14.2.24

Miami Says It Allows a Trickle of Tourism to Cuba?

    Today is Valentines Day, February 14th-2024 in both Miami and nearby Havana. Today, incredibly, the Miami Herald suggests that the rich and powerful Little Havana Cubans in Miami want to ease the U.S. Embargo/Blockade of Cuba enough to allow a trickle of tourism to some of Cuba's many tourist spots. As shown above, tourist-obsessed Miami is home and headquarters to the world's top cruise lines, even the one named Norwegian Cruise Line. But also, as you can see above, the cruise ships leaving Miami make sure to bypass Cuba on their way to any or all of the other top tourist spots in other nations.
    Today in Cuba -- on Valentine's Day, February 14th-2024 -- Cubans, as shown above, are thinking about Jose Marti poems such as "A Day of Lovc and Friendship." 
    I am not sure what Cubans are thinking about "Miami firms" exporting things to Cuba!! An amazing headline from the Miami Herald and Nora Gamez Torres in mid-February of 2024!! W0W!! The U. S. Embargo/Blockade of Cuba HAS EXISTED SINCE 1962,  largely driven by Miami's Cubans, and it has been designed to starve Cuba of tourist money, export/import money, etc. -- and in the past five years the Embargo/Blockade, largely because of Miami's Cubans, has been strengenthened since both the Trump and Biden administrations have put Cuba on the drastic Sponsors of Terrorism List. So, yes, the headline shown above is surprising...and hard to believe.
     In this new year of 2024 the vulnerable island-nation of Cuba is massively battling the newly strengthened U. S Embargo, which began over six decades ago in 1962 and, in the past five years, has been tightened by both the Trump & Biden administrationss. The Embargo's blocking of normal tourism to Cuba blunts the island's massive tourist lures, which include some of the World's Best Beaches, including Varadero that has been rated & voted as the World's Best Beach." Located on Cuba's northern coast just a few miles from the ultra-rich tourist mecca of Florida, how many tourists would fly to Varadero instead of Florida if there was not a U. S. Embargo that blocks most tourists from going to Cuba????
    For sure, the island nation of Cuba has some of the most positive tourism lures in the world -- including some of the best Beaches in the world, historic spots in cities such as Havana and Santiago de Cuba, friendly and welcoming people, etc., etc...not to mention some of the world's best Hiking, Snorkeling, and Biking trials.
      Cuba also indeed has a large fleet of modern Japanese buses that are ready to take tourists to the most favorite sites in both urban and rural areas around the island.
    The two international Hotel & Resort Giants based in Spain -- Melia and Iberostar -- have a total of 53 4-star and 5-star Hotels and Resorts around Cuba...and, incredibly, they are still building more. Above is the new Cadena Melia Hotel that now is being built in the beautiful and historic colonial city of Trinidad.
    Above are two photos of the 5-star Varadero Hotel & Resort operated by both Spanish and Cuban workers. Despite the tight screws against tourism by the U. S. Embargo/Blockade, both Iberostar and Melia -- the two Spanish world-renowned Hotels & Resorts giants -- remain extremely bullish on tourism to Cuba.
       This Casey Strong photo shows a typical scene tourists might see in Cuba if the U. S. permitted normal tourism to Cuba. This little Cuban girl is smiling cutely at Casey's tourist-friendly camera as her mother feeds pigeons.
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10.2.24

Cuba-US Relations in February-2024

     During the roaring 1950s when the Batista-Mafia dictators ruled Cuba, the Caribbean's largest and most beautiful island nation had fantastically GOOD RELATIONS with the United States. With wild kick-backs to Dictator Batista, the top U. S. companies partook in the spoils that included extremely lucrative tourism, gambling, drugs, and prostitution amidst the Big Businesses in Cuba. But on January 1st of 1959 the Cuban Revolution, which was wildly supported by the non-Batistiano-Cubans, overthrew the Batista dictatorship. Thus from January 1st of 1959 until today, which is February 10th of 2024, US-CUBA RELATIONS have been war-like, including the U. S. Bay of Pigs Military Attack on Cuba in 1961 and the still-devastating U.S. Embargo/Blockade of Cuba that began in 1962 and continues over 62 Years later. And so...as the Headlines shown below attest...on February 10th of 2024 the state of US-CUBA RELATIONS remains war-like...largely backed by rich and powerful Cubans in Miami and in Washington.
    The Top Cuban Headlines shown above are flashing around the U. S. and the world from the Miami Herald; WFLA in Miami & Tampa; CNN; and the Wall Street Journal today on February 10th in 2024. From January of 1959 till February 10th of 2024 the U. S. media has promoted the greatness and goodness of Cubans in Miami while promoting the badness and degradations of the Cuban leaders in Cuba.
     As an example of the Cuban headlines on February 10th of 2024, the Miami Herald/Nora Gamez Torres wants Americans and the world to know this: "Biden administration refutes Cuba's claim that the U.S. 'supports' Miami 'terrorists.'"
       Beyond Cuban headlines from sources such as Nora Gamez Torres/Miami Herald, etc. there also should be headlines about news items such as the bombing of the civilian Cubana Flight 455 airplane in which on board died, or more recently when 32 high-powered rifle bullets blasted the occupied Cuban Embassy building in Washington, Molotov cocktails fiery blasted into the Embassy building in Washington, etc.
    And, moreover, since 1962 Democracy-loving Americans like me and nations all around the whole World believe that the U. S. EMBARGO of Cuba shames the United States of America. Yet it has continued for over six decades while the U. S. media routinely suggests it is to hurt/overthrow only the bad leaders of Cuba while suggesting, of course, that it is meant to HELP the masses OF EVERYDAY innocent Cubans on the blockaded island. Really? Should Nora Gamez Torres and the Miami Herald one day ask EVERYDAY CUBANS WHAT THEY THINK OF THE EMBARGO??
       Regardless of whatever political problems exist between the United States and Cuba in February of 2024, the continuing and endless warlike situations between the two neighbors harshly harms 11 million Cubans in Cuba and, in the eyes of most people around the world, shames 330 million Americans. Perhaps...Nora Gamez Torres, the Miami Herald, and the rest of the mainstream U. S. media should address the US-CUBA RELATIONS fairly and evenly, and not just from the prism of a few people in a HUGE NATION that want to continue an endless EMBARGO/BLOCKADE against masses of people in a MUCH SMALLER NATION.
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cubaninsider: "The Country That Raped Me" (A True Story)

cubaninsider: "The Country That Raped Me" (A True Story) : Note : This particular essay on  Ana Margarita Martinez  was first ...